By point of comparison, a person can be sentenced up to five years if they lie to a federal officer (a point to remember the next time you're bringing unpasturized French cheese through U.S. customs ....) -- and eight years if the lie has some connection to terrorism.

A person doesn't have to look to very far in the US to find food poisoning from a resturant making lots of people ill (or, a few years ago, unpasturized juices in the grocery store), or some employee who had hepatitis potentially exposing hundreds of people, all of whom rush to get gamma globulin shots.